External Hard Drive Not Recognized In Windows 10!

With the reduction in the cost of available external storage options, there are many ways possible to not only store information, but also take it with us on the go. Carrying important files with you in an external hard disk can come in handy for many users who use more than one device in different locations and need these files across devices.

However, many users have reported across forums that they face an error where ‘external hard drive not recognized Windows 10’. Here I shall discuss the easy ways in which you can solve this error.

Why Windows 10 Won’t Recognize External Hard Drive?

Many users often run into the error where they can’t see the external hard drive in Windows 10. There are many potential reasons why your hard drive may not be recognized on your device. You need to check if there are any error messages that pop up when you connect your device, as there might be some information regarding what is wrong with your storage device.

If the USB hard drive not showing windows 10 Disk management, this can be a serious problem as there can be some connection issue between your hard drive and your computer.

For some reason, if you can’t see external hard drive Windows 10, you may also have to assign a different drive letter as the default drive letter may be already assigned to a network drive or some other file or drive.

If the external hard drive not showing Windows 10, there can also be an issue with your drivers and USB controllers. These can be very annoying, albeit very easy to solve.

How To Solve External Hard Drive Not Recognized Windows 10?

Now that you know the potential reasons that you are facing this error, you can start resolving this error by following some of the simple ways here to solve the ‘external hard drive not recognized Windows 10’ error.

Solution 1: Basic Checks For Connection Issues

You can start resolving this error by performing the basic checks, which will help you diagnose if your operating system is at fault, or you have a faulty hard drive.

Connect your hard disk to another computer port, and to a different computer altogether to check if there are any connection issues between the two.

• If the external hard disk is recognized in the other computer port, there may be some issues with the port or cable.
• If it is recognized in another computer but fails to recognize in all ports on your PC, there can be problems with the operating system on your device.
• If the storage device is not recognized on any port on any computer, your drive is at fault and may need physical repairs to run properly.

Solution 2: Uninstall And Reinstall External Hard Disk

Sometimes, the device configuration files for a certain device may get corrupted due to some recent application or settings installations. This can cause the external hard disk not showing in Windows 10 error on your device. You can try uninstalling the disk and then reinstalling it to solve your error.

1. Open a Run window by pressing Win + R.
2. Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the Device Manager window.
3. Expand the Disk Drives section by clicking on the arrow next to the section.
4. Right-click on the external hard drive and click Uninstall from the context menu.

5. Unplug the USB external hard disk and restart your computer.
6. Reconnect the USB and wait for the driver to install it.
7. Look for the drive-in File Explorer.

This should solve the ‘external hard drive not recognized Windows 10’ issue on your device if it was being caused by a driver issue.

Solution 3: Reinstall USB Controller

If you can’t see the external hard drive in Windows 10 due to an error from the loaded USB driver, this is the solution that you can use to resolve your error. This method shall be useful to you if there is an unstable or corrupt USB driver loaded onto your device.

1. Open a Run window by pressing Win + R.
2. Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the Device Manager window.
3. Expand the Universal Serial Bus controllers section by clicking on the arrow next to the section.
4. Right-click on a device and click Uninstall from the context menu.

5. Wait for the device to uninstall.
6. Then, repeat the procedure for all the devices.
7. Reboot your computer.

This should solve the ‘external hard drive not showing Windows 10’ error if it was being caused by faulty USB drivers.

Solution 4: Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting

Sometimes Windows turns off your USB devices which draw power using the USB cable, to save the device power if it is running on battery. A faulty Windows bug may also enable this setting even if you are plugged into the wall power supply. You need to turn off USB selective suspend setting to resolve this error.

1. Click the Battery icon on the taskbar. Next to your current plan, you shall find the option to adjust your plan settings. Click on that link.
   Alternatively, you can also access this from Control Panel > Power Options.
2. Next, choose ‘Change advanced power settings’
3. Click on the Change settings that are currently unavailable
4. Then, click to expand USB Settings.
5. Expand USB selective suspend
6. Click the link beside Plugged in to change its settings. From the drop-down menu, select Disabled. Repeat this for the Battery option as well.
7. Click Apply, followed by OK.

Solution 5: Create A New Drive Volume

You can use the disk management tool to fix partition and file system issues with your drive. This can be helpful if your drive shows up in the Disk Management tool as unallocated space and does not show up in File Explorer. Simply follow these steps to diagnose and solve the ‘USB hard drive not showing up Windows 10’ error.

1. Open a Run dialog by pressing Win + R.
2. Type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the Disk Management tool.
3. If your removable drive shows only unallocated space, you’ll need to create a new partition on it. This allows Windows and other operating systems to use it.
4. To do so, right-click anywhere on the unallocated space, select New Simple Volume.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions through the wizard to create a new partition.

If you see that the drive is partitioned and you still can’t see it, right-click the external drive’s partition to reveal the context menu. Select Change Drive Letter and Paths. If the device does not already have a letter, click Add and choose one. If it does, click Change and input some other value like G or H.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it. Now you know how to solve the ‘external hard drive not recognized Windows 10’ error using the methods provided above. Do tell us in the comments if you found this useful, and to discuss further the same.